The Best Smart Products of 2022 // Massive Unboxing and Showcase

[@kimcunningham2662]

Thanks as always for the great quality, fun, informative and down to earth reviews! I'm looking forward to more in 2023. Happy New Year.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Happy new year Kim! Thanks and see you soon!

[@enhompe2]

Super comprehensive roundup! I'm impressed with Aqara, but I don't think their geolocation function is mature enough yet to compare with, say, Smartthings. When they get that control to be more granular, I'm jumping ship!

[@AutomateYourLife]

They're very close now! You're right though, and that's the focus on Korea/China markets that they have biting them a little bit.

[@1MarkKeller]

Amazon's Fire TV Cube is what I wished the Google/Nest mesh Wi-Fi routers were going to be.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Oh that's an interesting thought!

[@SheasBathLab]

Has the cube shrunk? I found it too large and had no where I wanted to put it

[@1MarkKeller]

@@SheasBathLab In my case I can put it behind the TVs

[@thomasottvideos]

The best to you and yours, Brian, for a healthy Christmas 2022 filled with great memories. Kind regards, T. Phoenix, Arizona USA

[@AutomateYourLife]

Same to you Thomas!

[@JunkfoodJunction]

Merry Christmas 🎄 Brian to you and your family. Thank you for guiding us through automation in 2022!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Happy holidays!

[@580guru]

Things that make you go hmmm.

[@StarkillerRadio]

i am in America. The Gun Safe is a plus for my home.

[@AnonymousMiner2]

I think you missed part of the home assistant aspect of the hobbyist. If you love tinkering and it’s not just about time savings it can be a SUPER fun project. Also you can spend your time and take say 6 hours setting something up… however the second time in your parents house hopefully an hour… and the third time in your sisters house less than an hour. Just my 2 cents. First time you do anything it can take a while. It all depends on your situation and use case

[@AutomateYourLife]

Oh I get that it's a hobby nowadays. I'm just not that guy. Automation is for a reason

[@dnoland77]

Well done but wow, hard core, 3+ hours! You missed 1 huge thing on the Diva. It's the first Caseta switch that has a previous dimming state memory. The original Caseta's blinding you at full brightness every time is why I never bought them before. I have not bought any of their lamp dimmers yet. Do they return to previous state when powered on?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hmmmm I gave them to a friend but I think they were good at coming on at previously used levels....

[@TheKentuckyConservative]

I have to commend you on how you dealt with the subject of climate change. The radicals who deface property and scream incessantly, and outright deniers who refuse to take any stock or responsibility whatsoever are both extremely cringe (to me) and not at all helpful. You navigated that very well and made it almost moot to your point which was ultimately about saving money. I certainly appreciated it and thank you for it

[@AutomateYourLife]

oh man, that's a tough subject to wade in on at all in this world! Thanks for noticing and mentioning it!

[@vinhennessy3885]

My concern with the Energy Challenge is fathom power loss. It real, and I’ve learn to control by reducing use of some of my devices.

[@AutomateYourLife]

For sure Vin. You gotta know how to use this stuff!

[@homesteadhappiness1317]

The curtain opener is perfect for disabled folks

[@AutomateYourLife]

100%!

[@BudsSmartHome]

Thanks for the video Brian. Merry Christmas!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Happy holidays!

[@josephlemons]

Happy Holidays Brian, thanks for all the tech goodness this year, here’s to a matter explosion next year, much love from Iowa

[@AutomateYourLife]

💥💥💥💥!

[@HughD]

Yet another great job, Brian. It was all very interesting. You must have set some sort of record for the most time-stamped segments in a KZbin video! Happy New Year and keep 'em coming!!!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yes! I'm winning something! Happy New Year Hugh!

[@alimohammadi877]

😊😊😊😊😊😊9999999999999999 9999999999999999😊😊😊9

[@chitowntone5451]

Good info! Timely for me too, because my wife is not too impressed with the automations that require her phone or Siri to control without a manual control for her. My first Aqara button should arrive this morning. More buttons and wall switches coming this year.#ShareTheLove

[@AutomateYourLife]

Share The Love baby

[@maxwellpoe2285]

Nice video, thank you Brian. I had a Hubitat which broke when I moved to a new house (it won't power on) and I was out of warranty, etc. Now that Smartthings has more local capabilities and getting matter, it seems that it would be a better choice now - since it has an app and is manufactured by a big, well known company. Do you agree with this statement? I'm torn between getting another Hubitat and trying out Smartthings hub...

[@AutomateYourLife]

That's generally how I feel yep. Hubitat's nice though for lots of detailed automation reasons. :)

[@Joseph-ko2kl]

Love the Yolink stuff I have 8 different items from them and they are a solid product from my experience. Anytime I had a question customer service got right on it.

[@AutomateYourLife]

So good!

[@gerryf7015]

Just wish they had local control.

[@ypark2877]

The outdoor sensor by yolink is wonderful. Now that i figured out how to expand voice notifications to both my alexa and google speakers even more useful. Added yolink outdoor plugs and freezer temp monitor recently. Integrations with alexa and google have improved. Automate Your Lifes's virtual switches are also little miracle workers for many routines. Not just yolink…Just learning how to use them now.

[@Joseph-ko2kl]

@@ypark2877 I have a outdoor sensor also and overall it is great, something to consider when thinking about how you are going to use is this, since it uses IR to measure motion if the temp of the thing causing motion is not greater/less than the ambient temp of the sensor it will be invisible and not trigger. The example where I found this out was when it started to get cold and cars coming/going down my driveway would not trigger it, as soon as a person went by it would instantly trigger. Cars were the same temp as the ambient air so they were not there as far as the sensor was concerned, I further tested it by taking the Wifey's vehicle out of the garage, which was warmer than outside, and driving it down the driveway and boom instant trigger.

[@ypark2877]

Thx for tip. No problems yet with any misses but will keep in mind. Wonder if angle placement helps. Mine faces at angle across curved drive, maybe that would tend to pick up front of car so may see Engine heat more ?

[@580guru]

Time for breakfast...thanks for the show!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thanks for joining us Mark! And Merry Christmas!

[@580guru]

@Automate Your Life Merry Christmas to you and yours and toast to a great New Year! Keep up the good work, we're going to need you even more to sort out the Matter/thread issues 😁

[@robdh4]

Does picture-in-picture on fire cube display over the HDMI pass-through input? Like if I'm watching cable box or using Xbox. Or only when viewing content directly from the cube?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yeah it's only the cube content

[@coy9898]

Now with the Samsung M8 out would you recommend it?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Hmmmmm not yet. Not for any Smartthings reason anyways. It's good, but they've got some work to do on it

[@PWingert1966]

Moen makes a line of smart devices including a valve actuator. These units are much smaller than the Zoos unit.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yep! This one's always locally controlled though. Is the Moen lineup?

[@PWingert1966]

@@AutomateYourLife Not sure just saw it the other day. I live in an apartment, so it is not an option for me since I have no local control of my plumbing. Its an older building and there are only shutoffs on each floor, not each apartment.

[@2004monte]

Hey Brian, I recently bought two Ikea short cut buttons to work with my Smartthings platform. But when I connect them to smartthings they come up as THING. I tried to go into the IDE and change it to Zigbee button but that didn’t help. Just didn’t know if you have had any experience with these buttons. Maybe I’ll have to go a different route. Thanks

[@AutomateYourLife]

Got a link? I'd check for an edge driver these days instead

[@PhillyDjHook]

I have that same World Best Boss mug. Great minds do think alike.

[@AutomateYourLife]

They sure do!😃

[@dhebert111]

Hey there. I gotta say, when I saw that "Media" air conditioner (hope I got that right) I had to comment. I got that other one you were talking about...the one that's in the window, and you can still close the window because there's a split down the middle?,,,anyway. If you're ever interested in in, GET IT! It works unbelievably well, and it costs me roughly 15٪-20٪ of my old one that was bigger. It's hooked up to wifi, has an app, you can set it to use it less at night to save energy, and it runs with any Smart Home app. Hope this helps someone else.

[@AutomateYourLife]

That thing is still amazing. Just took it out this week and have loved it up to now

[@wolfpowergaming5308]

Would you recommend this screen protector for the monarch case with my s23 ultra Ive looked all over for a different screen protector any recommendations

[@AutomateYourLife]

Sorry! Don't even have an S23 ultra!

[@580guru]

Yes!

[@jasongerstner5378]

You mentioned lutron was not compatible with LED lights that are app enabled dimmable. Could you elaborate.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Smart bulbs dim differently than regular dimmable bulbs. There are many methods to dim a bulb, but most dimmable bulbs do so by Phase Width Modulation (shrinking the time it takes the wave to complete a cycle, or expanding it) or current reduction. That doesn't work well with a smart bulb that has its own controller. Changing current or the wave doesn't work for a controller like that.

[@cdarrigo]

Do the third reality blinds work with Google home?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Not directly, since Google doesn't have a Zigbee Hub in their lineup. However, I've used it with multiple Zigbee hubs (Hubitat, SmartThings, ThirdReality) and then control with Google Home works well.

[@TeachDem]

No mention of the controversy surrounding eufy at the moment? #Interesting

[@AutomateYourLife]

Just before the camera segment, I talk about that. And, kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5mTqnSeob-HgLM

[@realsushrey]

How long did it take you to edit and render this?

[@AutomateYourLife]

...I don't want to talk about it! 🤣🤣🤣

[@josephanderson8389]

awesome shirt

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thanks!

[@richchapman5011]

Happy Christmas Brian. Absolutely loved the video from start to end. Just the usual quality everyone has come to enjoy with so much down to earth content and advice expressed throughout. I’ve used some of the cheap sensors you’ve shown within this video and,tbh, it made wonder why we get charged so much by “branded” so called top end companies. Keep up the excellent work and look forward to each week to see a new video.

[@AutomateYourLife]

Merry Christmas Rich! I'm glad it made you wonder a bit, but I'm even happier you enjoyed the video!

[@Leehensman]

9:28 next to Apple..... wtf ah you mean over expensive and hyped up.

[@Dmax189]

cant find those patio lights

[@AutomateYourLife]

Sorry Dan! Here you go: byjasco.com/products/led-lighting/cafe-lights Watch out, many are not smart within that page.

[@lovewenwin]

Updates for 2023?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Yep! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYG1epyjqZtgkKM

[@leandroleudo7]

Top

[@BAM-jc7uy]

IF u would have been a Boomer elderly person, I wonder if ur neighbors would have wondered if your home had been turned into a tech product "hoarder" house....which begs the question, where do u store, stack, unused "products?" LOL👍

[@AutomateYourLife]

LOL I'm sure they have questions. I give them away mostly. ;) But I keep lots for comparisons, so I do have a stack.

[@BAM-jc7uy]

👍❤LOL thru u I have learned alot of the newer digital products and comparsisons..gr-gr-granny NM...@@AutomateYourLife

[@coriel2597]

Can you come over? We need to adopt you 😂

[@AutomateYourLife]

Wait, is this an offer for adoption to hang with puppies!? I'm in.

[@lovewenwin]

TMI 😢

[@AutomateYourLife]

😬

[@dano16771]

Maybe it's not your shipping company's issue, maybe the retailer needs to better pack their merchandise.

[@AutomateYourLife]

👍👍👍

[@mt4759]

send me one of those

[@CoyJones-jv9rc]

😂😂😂

[@580guru]

Nobody commenting?

[@AutomateYourLife]

Oh the comments usually come after the stream finishes Mark :)

[@AutomateYourLife]

You might be missing the chat :)

[@andrecooper5427]

Home assistant sucks tho. Its not a problem of complexity, its just garbage, and they charge. The app that comes with the device is better, easier, cleaner and cheaper.

[@AChangeAhead]

The music is not necessary! It takes away from your info,,,,,

[@AutomateYourLife]

Thanks :)

[@ELMProductionGroup]

My God man, consider a manicure. Chewed fingernails and dead cuticle skin is not marketable. Otherwise, thanks for the well-produced, informative video.

[@AutomateYourLife]

I'll get my nails done for you 🤣

[@ELMProductionGroup]

NO offense, i like you very much. I work in commercial film production, so I notice these things. :) @@AutomateYourLife

[@AKC-81]

I'm definitely checking out Zooz! Keep up the great vids bro. Lots of love from Malaysia!

[@AutomateYourLife]

Awesome! Thank you! Enjoy Zooz! Just watch those Z-Wave frequencies with your home in Malaysia :)